Paradise Lost (Sin City) Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  3/11/2003

Running Time: 94 min.

Production Date: 9 / 15 / 2002

Director: Michael Raven

Cast: Julia Ann, Mr. Marcus, Tanya Danielle, April, Olivia Del Rio, Wendy Divine, Phoenix Ray, Monica Mayhem, Jana Cova, Kristal Summers, Steven St. Croix, Randy Spears, Alex Sanders, Cheyne Collins, Eric Masterson, and Lee Stone in sexual roles and Summer Storm, T. J. Hart, George Kaplan, Steve Chase, Johnny Cockring, and Devan Sapphire in non-sex roles

Initial Expectations: I’ve been excited about this one ever since Michael Raven told me about it roughly a year ago.

Initial Reaction: The DVD’s authoring is schizophrenic, but the movie itself is amazing.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody who likes artistic porn

Who Should Avoid It: Raincoaters and anybody who wants their porn straightforward

Audio /Video Quality: The audio is extremely clear and well balanced. I didn’t notice a single sound in the movie that seemed like it should have been changed in any way. The video is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. As he frequently does, Michael Raven has shot this feature on film which gives it much more depth and a much stronger artistic feel. It’s very well lit and the grain of the film doesn’t affect it in a negative way.

Music: Most of the music is done by High Priestess Music, and goes between choral religious music and techno. The balance changes from being the only audio to resting nicely in the background, and is perfect for almost every scene.

Disc Problems / Complaints: When I saw how much Sin City was offering on this DVD, my hopes soared. Gone are the days of no time stamps and features split over multiple titles I thought. Sadly, my hopes had about as much hope as an intern around Bill Clinton keeping her virginity. The authoring on this two disc DVD set is completely schizophrenic. While the extras disc is very well done, my first impression of the feature disc was that it looked a list of what not to do in the year 2003 and was the worst authored DVD I’d seen so far this year as well as a good portion of last year. There’s no time stamp for the movie, or anything else on the first DVD for that matter, which is something that’s ticked me off since I put in my first DVD. I like to jump around in movies, and without a time stamp you can’t do this. Amazingly, nothing on the first DVD has a time stamp, everything on the second disc does, which only made the first disc look worse. If that wasn’t enough on the first DVD, the feature is split over two titles on the DVD, and once you start the second title you can’t revisit anything before it without going through the main menu. Not giving a bad enough first impression? The Sin City DVD department also appears to have trouble figuring out how to put multiple audio tracks on a DVD, since you can’t jump between the audio on the movie and the commentary with Michael Raven. I don’t think one’s quite reaching the level of imagination of the late Gene Roddenberry to think that a person watching a movie by a director this artistic might watch a scene and then want to know what Michael Raven was thinking right away. I immediately had the impression that the Sin City DVD department was too busy trying to figure out how Lincoln Logs go together to allow the viewer to do that.

After watching the first DVD and looking into things a little more, my impression started to improve. Sin City is attempting to give you multiple ways to view the movie and keep the branching seamless. Where the title break occurs is where the endings for the movie split. It works well, but makes the first DVD very convoluted. I also don’t see why there can’t be a time code, even when the movie is split over two titles like this. I also don’t see why you can’t switch between audio tracks as Raven’s commentary could just have easily been put over each video stream.

I don’t know if the movie DVD and the extras DVD were done at completely different times so there was a change in the DVD department, but I should hope part of me hopes so. When I first scanned over the two DVDs my biggest hope was that somebody got fired when their superiors saw the job done on the first DVD. After looking over the entire two disc set I can see what they were trying to do, and although I think my initial judgment was a little harsh, I have to admit that it works even if it doesn’t work well. Sadly, even though it does work, when put up against competition like Wicked, VCA, and Adam & Eve, I don’t think the first DVD comes close to competing with what these other studios were putting out two to three years ago. The second disc is very well done, which leaves me wondering whether this was a matter of being extremely rushed to meet a deadline, not knowing how to make a decent product, or just not caring about the final product since a little more care would have went a long way. Although they’re trying to do something different with the first DVD, it comes off looking like Sin City has taken a few steps back and decided to go back to putting out the poorly authored DVDs that they started with.

Menus: The menus are nicely animated and give a very good first impression. The chapter menu lets you choose a scene based on a scene number and a very small clip of the scene.

The Feature: Michael Raven loosely took on the tale of Orpheus in Underworld and Beauty & the Beast in Beast. Now he’s turned his attention to John Milton’s Paradise Lost. There are only a few things one can be sure of. It’s not going to be the story you’re used to. It’s going to be artistic and not like nothing else that’s come out recently. Most of all, it’s going to be amazing. It might not be for your tastes, but it will be extremely well done.

Monica Mayhem starts things out mouthing Cheyne Collin’s member while the incredibly cute Wendy Divine does the same to Eric Masterson. Monica moves on to ride Cheyne, while Wendy keeps her oral talents going until Eric gives her a creamy spray on her tongue, and finishes with a creamy finish of her own. It’s a very different scene. It’s artistic, yet there’s still some heat here. It’s not quite connected to any of the performers, but instead permeates the entire being of the scene. It’s an odd feeling that I’ve rarely felt in a scene.

Stone statues Kristal Summers and Alex Sanders beak apart from each other and their base only to come together again in the next scene. Kristal turns Alex’s cold stone bone to warm flesh as she sucks it, and then turns around for him to work away on her with it from behind. Kristal moves on to ride Alex cowgirl style before they finish up with a little missionary work, which I guess is only fitting. Alex finishes things up decorating Kristal’s stomach, with both of them half turned to flesh. It’s a good scene that works well as a dream sequence.

Cyborg Lee Stone, who’s done up in so much makeup that I might have thought it was Herschel Savage if I hadn’t known better, takes on Phoenix Ray in the next scene. As with the other scenes, Phoenix gives Lee an oral warm-up before turning around to let him bone her from behind. They get in a bit of energetic fucking standing up. It’s a bit mechanical yet primal, which fits the feel of the scene very well. I think the makeup, which partially made the scene, also held it back. Lee is made up to the point that it’s hard to see his reactions, yet you can tell that he’s also really into it.

Next, Steven St. Croix risks his life as a monk by going after virginal Sondra Hall rather than a convenient altar boy. This barely counts as a scene. It’s a borderline fantasy that’s mostly done in fast forward, and doesn’t even have a pop shot.

Mr. Marcus indulges in the pleasures of Olivia del Rio and April next. The girls team up to pleasure Marcus orally before Olivia guides April onto Marcus’ cock. The girls trade places so Marcus can have a bit of Olivia’s honey hole before April sucks Marcus until he pops on Olivia’s face and tits. It’s a very hot scene with great chemistry. It’s obviously about Marcus’ pleasure, but the girls are both showing some great enjoyment in pleasuring him.

Beautiful blondes Jana Cova and Tanya Danielle get busy in the penultimate scene. Jana works Tanya over briefly before Tanya goes to work on Jana’s undercarriage, licking her from clit to ass and making sure he ass gets enough tongue attention. Finally, the girls break out a pair of toys that they work each other over with before sealing things with a kiss. It’s a hot scene that’s broken up by a little plot. This holds back the heat a bit, but also blends it better with the movie.

Finally, Julia Ann and Steve St. Croix make passionate love in their bedroom. They passionately kiss their way across each other’s body before Julia lovingly sucks Steven’s cock. She isn’t mild and meek as she does it, but works it with a passionate energy. Steve returns the oral love to Julia, letting his tongue please each of her holes, before she climbs on to ride him. They finish things up with a bit of missionary action before Steven decorates Julia’s stomach. It’s a great scene to end things with, and feels as loving as it’s supposed to. There’s great chemistry and passion between Julia and Steven, and it’s the most perfect scene in the entire movie.

Paradise Lost reminds me why Michael Raven sits at the top of my list of favorite directors. The movie is extremely artistic and even though it’s based on a piece of literature that’s also highly artistic, feels extremely original. Credit here goes several places. Of course much of it goes to Michael Raven, who appears to not only have one good eye but two. He’s put together an amazing cast here, and everybody here plays their role to near perfection. Heck, for that matter almost everything here is near perfect both in the sexual and non-sexual scenes. My only complaint with the entire movie is that the first couple scenes lack a bit of heat, but even there they fit in with the movie quite well. Paradise Lost is an amazing adult film rather than just one of the slew of mere pornos that are constantly released.

Extras: Sin City has put together a wide selection of extras, including a director’s commentary, alternate endings, music videos, interviews, and much more. A second DVD is also devoted to bonus material. You get things like music videos, interviews, featurettes on the special features and bloopers, as well as some of the extras you’re used to.

An alternate ending to the movie leads off the extras, and strangely, is included on both DVDs. While some alternate endings just offer you an extra line or two near the ending, this one gives you another entire sex scene that fleshes things out nicely. Mr. Marcus, wearing a huge pair of metallic angel’s wings, takes on Julia Ann, who wears a collar with its chain broken and a technological crown of thorns. She sucks Marcus, lets him fuck her from behind and missionary style, and finally sucks and strokes his seed onto her face. It’s a hot scene, as well as greatly adding to Julia’s choice between redemption and damnation. It fleshes things out very nicely, and I think enhances the entire movie.

A director’s commentary with Michael Raven is included, but due to the authoring you can’t jump between the two audio tracks. The audio from the movie itself is non-existent, which is too bad since when Raven comments about things such as the music, you can’t hear it to connect it all together. Sadly, there’s much more dead air here than talking, so without the original audio to listen to this becomes a pretty boring commentary. Michael talks about some of the symbolism in the movie and how things were done to achieve certain looks in the movie. On the Evolution DVD there was a twenty minute commentary that put together all the areas that Michael talked about there. I think this would have been much better here, as a twenty minute featurette that’s one hundred percent commentary is much better than a ninety five minute featurette that’s twenty percent commentary. Even better would have been if Sin City would have brought in Julia Ann, Mr. Marcus, and or Steven St. Croix to join Michael in the commentary, as multiple person commentaries normally have significantly more going on than single person commentaries. This is by far the weakest extra on the DVDs.

Many of the standard extras are included on the second DVD. The photo gallery lasts about eight and a half minutes, with five seconds per photo. Unlike the feature, many of the photos are all full screen photos rather than being letterboxed clips from the movie. There are also many snapshots, but regardless of the form they look very nice. Trailers are included for Still Frame, American Girls, Sin Twins, The Contract, Poison Angel, Criss Cross, and Quiver. Bios are included for Alex Sanders, April, Cheyne Collins, Eric Masterson, Jana Cova, Julia Ann, Kristal Summers, Lee Stone, Mr. Marcus, Monica Mayhem, Oliva Del Rio, Phoenix Ray, Randy Spears, Steven St. Croix, Tanya Danielle, and Wendy Divine. Each bio includes a little personal information and a very small photo of the star from the feature. There are even DVD credits, as well as some of the usual Sin City extras such as web site and phone sex information.

The behind the scenes featurette lasts about eleven minutes. It nicely mixes the scenes being shot, the performers being made up for the scene, and screwing around everywhere. Evan Stone and Steven St. Croix are both present, which means that there’s more than a little humor throughout the featurette. There’s also plenty of Julia Ann, who comes off as elegant as she ever does. It’s a very nice behind the scenes featurette, although it feels very short for the things that could have been covered.

The blooper reel, called Unauthorized, lasts about four and a half minutes. As usual, there are plenty of flubbed lines and people cracking up. Since Steven St. Croix’s around, you also have plenty of ad-libbing. You also get a little of things going wrong sexually when you make them artistic. It’s a decent blooper reel that definitely saves the best for last.

The make-up featurette lasts about two minutes and lets you see a bit of the process of converting Lee Stone into his character. It’s mostly done in fast-forward, which is good and bad. It’s good because it looks like it took forever. It’s bad because you never get any real idea how long it took to make him up, which I suspect was a heck of a long time.

The music video is of Selina Minx’s Majik, and is also directed by Michael Raven. As always, Raven amazes me with his talent. It’s a great music video that has the style of the standard movie music video. It blends Selina Minx with scenes from the movie, and shows that Raven is anything but just a porn director who’s got lucky with a few movies.

There’s also forty-five minutes of interviews. Monica Mayhem starts things out talking about sex and kickboxing. Wendy Divine talks about her and her hubby Eric Masterson being in the business, how busy they are, some of the things they do, and just comes across as extremely bubbly and fun. T. J. Hart talks about her role in the movie, how much sex she doesn’t have, and her past. Summer Storm talks about her past. Phoenix Rae talks about getting into the business, her first sexual experiences, and what she does in her spare time. April talks about growing up in Alaska and a bit about herself. Olivia Del Rio also gets an interview with the help of an interpreter, and talks about growing up in Rio, how she got into the business, and sex. Tanya Danielle talks about what she was like growing up, sex, reading, and having a computer rather than a TV. Jana Cova (listed here as Leanna Kova) talks about her and her husband, shopping, and Czech Republic. Finally, Julia Ann talks about her sex in the movie, tells a couple jokes, and what she likes sexually. It’s a great selection of interviews. Many of the questions are the same from person to person, but you get a nice little taste of the personality of each of the stars.

Themes: Straight, group, oral, voyeurism, group, interracial, lesbian, rimming (male > female and female > female), and toys

Raincoat Factor: Medium to medium low

Overall: Currently, most of Sin City’s Signature Series DVDs can be found online for between $14 and $25, with many stores offering them around $20. Although it’s a slightly schizophrenic job of a DVD set, the movie is absolutely amazing. The transfer is excellent, as are the extras. If you’re at all interested in this one, check it out!

Note to Sin City: Please learn to be a little consistent. People are going to notice you one way or the other, and sometimes it’s a lot better to do a few things well than biting off more than you can chew and doing it poorly. It’s great to see you trying to stretch yourselves and what you can do, but it’s normally best to wait to do things publicly until you can do them right.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

Other reviews by Astroknight